Age-related legal requirements for US apps

As US states push ahead with new age‑assurance laws for app stores, publishers and developers are facing fast‑moving, high‑stakes changes to how apps are downloaded, rated, and monetised across iOS and Android. These laws are intended to protect minors and give parents more control, but are already running into serious privacy and free‑speech challenges that will shape how app stores handle age data in the months ahead.

The Big Picture

A group of US states – Texas, Utah, Louisiana, and California – are introducing laws that require app stores to verify user age and obtain parental consent for minors before allowing downloads or in‑app purchases. While these laws are framed around child safety and harmful content, they apply broadly to mainstream apps and will change how age is handled across entire app ecosystems.

At the same time, a federal judge in Texas has temporarily blocked enforcement of the Texas law, finding that its requirements likely overreach, especially for simple, low‑risk apps that would still be forced through intrusive ID checks. This legal challenge has delayed the rollout of Apple’s planned implementation in Texas and injected new uncertainty into how similar laws in other states will be enforced.

What These Laws Aim To Do
At a high level, the state laws share a common goal: to mandate age verification and parental oversight at the app‑store level. The core aims include:

• Verifying whether a user is an adult or a minor before app download or purchase.
• Ensuring that minors have parental consent – and often parental controls – for both downloads and in‑app purchases.
• Introducing stronger age‑gating for apps that may contain harmful or adult content.

Crucially, these requirements change expectations for how Apple, Google, and other app stores expose age and consent information to developers via platform APIs. That means the impact will be felt not only in app store workflows, but also in how individual apps are designed, configured, and updated.

Key State Laws (And Their Challenges)

Four states are currently leading this regulatory wave, each with its own law and implementation path.

• Texas (App Store Accountability Act, effective Jan 1, 2026 – currently delayed)
  Texas has passed a law requiring app stores to verify that users are 18+ before downloading potentially harmful apps, and to secure parental consent for minors. A federal judge has now issued a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement while a legal challenge proceeds, meaning implementation is on hold and the legal landscape remains fluid.
• Utah (May 7 2026), Louisiana (July 1 2026), California (January 1 2027)
  Utah, Louisiana, and California have passed similar legislation that requires age verification and parental consent for minors, alongside obligations on app stores and developers to respect age‑based access and purchasing controls. While specific provisions differ by state, each regime leans heavily on app stores to collect, verify, and expose age and consent signals to apps.

Across all four states, these laws are already encountering questions about how far governments can go in compelling age checks, how data will be stored and protected, and how “harmful” content is defined in practice.

Developer Responsibilities And Platform APIs

For publishers and developers, the most immediate impact is on how apps declare and respond to age information at a platform level. Even apps that are not explicitly “adult” can fall in scope because requirements apply broadly across an app store’s user base.

Key expectations emerging from the state laws and platform responses include:

• Assigning appropriate age ratings for apps and content, aligned with store policies and the new legal framework.
• Integrating platform APIs – such as Apple’s Declared Age Range – to signal and consume age brackets for users at runtime.
• Respecting age‑gated behaviours in‑app, for example limiting purchases or certain content experiences for under‑18s where required.
• Ensuring that any parental consent flows provided by the platforms are correctly surfaced and not bypassed.

Because these changes are being driven at the app‑store level, they are expected to apply across the board, not just to a narrow category of adult‑content apps.

Legal Pushback And The Texas Injunction

The most visible pushback so far has come in Texas, where a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction in late December 2025 against the state’s App Store Accountability Act. The court expressed concern that forcing ID checks and detailed data collection for everyday apps – such as weather apps – likely infringes First Amendment protections and compels speech in ways that are constitutionally problematic.

Apple has been a central opponent of these laws, arguing that they require the collection and processing of sensitive personal data from all users, not only minors, in order to gate access to basic apps and services. In response to the injunction, enforcement of the Texas law is currently paused and Apple has put its Texas‑specific implementation on hold while the legal process unfolds.

Other state laws in Utah, Louisiana, and California are now facing similar scrutiny, with major tech companies challenging both the breadth of the mandates and the privacy implications of large‑scale age‑assurance systems. The outcome of these cases will set important precedents for how far states can go in reshaping app‑store policy and data flows.

What This Means For PageSuite Customers

For PageSuite customers, these developments signal a shift in how age, parental consent, and user controls will be handled across the app ecosystem in the US. While enforcement of the Texas law is currently delayed due to the ongoing legal challenge, similar laws in other states remain live issues and may require future product and configuration changes once platform implementations are finalised.

As the legal and platform picture becomes clearer, PageSuite will:

• Track evolving state‑level requirements that affect app distribution ​
• Understand how app‑store age signals and consent APIs will interact with existing user journeys, paywalls, and data practices.
• Plan for scenarios where apps need to adapt content, commerce, or data collection flows based on verified age or parental consent.

The situation is changing quickly, and PageSuite will continue to follow developments closely.